The role of stationarity in magnetic crackling noise

We discuss the effect of the stationarity on the avalanche statistics of Barkhuasen noise signals. We perform experimental measurements on a Fe$_{85}$B$_{15}$ amorphous ribbon and compare the avalanche distributions measured around the coercive field, where the signal is stationary, with those sampled through the entire hysteresis loop. In the first case, we recover the scaling exponents commonly observed in other amorphous materials ($\tau=1.3$, $\alpha=1.5$). while in the second the exponents are significantly larger ($\tau=1.7$, $\alpha=2.2$). We provide a quantitative explanation of the experimental results through a model for the depinning of a ferromagnetic domain wall. The present analysis shed light on the unusually high values for the Barkhausen noise exponents measured by Spasojevic et al. [Phys. Rev. E 54 2531 (1996)].Comment: submitted to JSTAT. 11 pages 5 figure

Elastic systems with correlated disorder: Response to tilt and application to surface growth

We study elastic systems such as interfaces or lattices pinned by correlated quenched disorder considering two different types of correlations: generalized columnar disorder and quenched defects correlated as ~ x^{-a} for large separation x. Using functional renormalization group methods, we obtain the critical exponents to two-loop order and calculate the response to a transverse field h. The correlated disorder violates the statistical tilt symmetry resulting in nonlinear response to a tilt. Elastic systems with columnar disorder exhibit a transverse Meissner effect: disorder generates the critical field h_c below which there is no response to a tilt and above which the tilt angle behaves as \theta ~ (h-h_c)^{\phi} with a universal exponent \phi<1. This describes the destruction of a weak Bose glass in type-II superconductors with columnar disorder caused by tilt of the magnetic field. For isotropic long-range correlated disorder, the linear tilt modulus vanishes at small fields leading to a power-law response \theta ~ h^{\phi} with \phi>1. The obtained results are applied to the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang equation with temporally correlated noise.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figures, revtex

Universal depinning force fluctuations of an elastic line: Application to finite temperature behavior

The depinning of an elastic line in a random medium is studied via an extremal model. The latter gives access to the instantaneous depinning force for each successive conformation of the line. Based on conditional statistics the universal and non-universal parts of the depinning force distribution can be obtained. In particular the singular behavior close to a (macroscopic) critical threshold is obtained as a function of the roughness exponent of the front. We show moreover that the advance of the front is controlled by a very tenuous set of subcritical sites. Extension of the extremal model to a finite temperature is proposed, the scaling properties of which can be discussed based on the statistics of depinning force at zero temperature.Comment: submitted to Phys. Rev.

Micromagnetic Simulation of Nanoscale Films with Perpendicular Anisotropy

A model is studied for the theoretical description of nanoscale magnetic films with high perpendicular anisotropy. In the model the magnetic film is described in terms of single domain magnetic grains with Ising-like behavior, interacting via exchange as well as via dipolar forces. Additionally, the model contains an energy barrier and a coupling to an external magnetic field. Disorder is taken into account in order to describe realistic domain and domain wall structures. The influence of a finite temperature as well as the dynamics can be modeled by a Monte Carlo simulation. Many of the experimental findings can be investigated and at least partly understood by the model introduced above. For thin films the magnetisation reversal is driven by domain wall motion. The results for the field and temperature dependence of the domain wall velocity suggest that for thin films hysteresis can be described as a depinning transition of the domain walls rounded by thermal activation for finite temperatures.Comment: Revtex, Postscript Figures, to be published in J. Appl.Phy

Anisotropic Interface Depinning - Numerical Results

We study numerically a stochastic differential equation describing an interface driven along the hard direction of an anisotropic random medium. The interface is subject to a homogeneous driving force, random pinning forces and the surface tension. In addition, a nonlinear term due to the anisotropy of the medium is included. The critical exponents characterizing the depinning transition are determined numerically for a one-dimensional interface. The results are the same, within errors, as those of the ``Directed Percolation Depinning'' (DPD) model. We therefore expect that the critical exponents of the stochastic differential equation are exactly given by the exponents obtained by a mapping of the DPD model to directed percolation. We find that a moving interface near the depinning transition is not self-affine and shows a behavior similar to the DPD model.Comment: 9 pages, 13 figures, REVTe

Monte Carlo Dynamics of driven Flux Lines in Disordered Media

We show that the common local Monte Carlo rules used to simulate the motion of driven flux lines in disordered media cannot capture the interplay between elasticity and disorder which lies at the heart of these systems. We therefore discuss a class of generalized Monte Carlo algorithms where an arbitrary number of line elements may move at the same time. We prove that all these dynamical rules have the same value of the critical force and possess phase spaces made up of a single ergodic component. A variant Monte Carlo algorithm allows to compute the critical force of a sample in a single pass through the system. We establish dynamical scaling properties and obtain precise values for the critical force, which is finite even for an unbounded distribution of the disorder. Extensions to higher dimensions are outlined.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Depinning exponents of the driven long-range elastic string

We perform a high-precision calculation of the critical exponents for the long-range elastic string driven through quenched disorder at the depinning transition, at zero temperature. Large-scale simulations are used to avoid finite-size effects and to enable high precision. The roughness, growth, and velocity exponents are calculated independently, and the dynamic and correlation length exponents are derived. The critical exponents satisfy known scaling relations and agree well with analytical predictions.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

Large scale numerical simulations of "ultrametric" long-range depinning

The depinning of an elastic line interacting with a quenched disorder is studied for long range interactions, applicable to crack propagation or wetting. An ultrametric distance is introduced instead of the Euclidean distance, allowing for a drastic reduction of the numerical complexity of the problem. Based on large scale simulations, two to three orders of magnitude larger than previously considered, we obtain a very precise determination of critical exponents which are shown to be indistinguishable from their Euclidean metric counterparts. Moreover the scaling functions are shown to be unchanged. The choice of an ultrametric distance thus does not affect the universality class of the depinning transition and opens the way to an analytic real space renormalization group approach.Comment: submitted to Phys. Rev.

Instanton Analysis of Hysteresis in the Three-Dimensional Random-Field Ising Model

We study the magnetic hysteresis in the random field Ising model in 3D. We discuss the disorder dependence of the coercive field H_c, and obtain an analytical description of the smooth part of the hysteresis below and above H_c, by identifying the disorder configurations (instantons) that are the most probable to trigger local avalanches. We estimate the critical disorder strength at which the hysteresis curve becomes continuous. From an instanton analysis at zero field we obtain a description of local two-level systems in the ferromagnetic phase.Comment: Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 117202 (2006